News

University of Cambridge members recognised in the Queen's Honours List 2021

Cambridge figures' contributions recognised in Queen’s Birthday Honours 2021

The achievements and contributions of individuals from the University of Cambridge and its Colleges have been recognised in this year’s Queen’s Birthday Honours list. Dr Shaun Fitzgerald , Director at the Centre for Climate Repair at Cambridge , and Fellow of Girton College, has received an OBE for services to the COVID-19...

News - spider silk - Researchers create plant-based, sustainable, scalable material that could replace single-use plastics in many consumer products.

‘Vegan spider silk’ provides sustainable alternative to single-use plastics

Researchers have created a plant-based, sustainable, scalable material that could replace single-use plastics in many consumer products. The researchers, from the University of Cambridge, created a polymer film by mimicking the properties of spider silk, one of the strongest materials in nature. The new material is as...

Driverless vehicles trialled on West Cambridge site

University’s expertise advises on West Cambridge Site trial of self-driving shuttle

Professor John Miles from the Department of Engineering has been guiding a project looking at out-of-hours travel from city centres and employment sites The University’s expertise in sustainable transport technology is advising on a West Cambridge Site trial of a fully electric Autonomous Vehicle. Suitably sci-fi in...

ERC Funding - University of Cambridge Research - April 2021

Twelve Cambridge researchers awarded European Research Council funding

Twelve University of Cambridge researchers have won advanced grants from the European Research Council (ERC), Europe’s premier research funding body. Cambridge has the most grant winners of any UK institution, and the second-most winners overall. Their work is set to provide new insights into many subjects, such as how to...

Cambridge engineers - next-generation batteries to power up electric vehicles

Funding awarded for research into next-gen batteries to power-up electric vehicles

Cambridge engineers will develop next-generation lithium-ion batteries with improved performance as part of a collaborative project to scale up production ahead of a predicted electric vehicle boom. The electric revolution is already well underway in the car industry, with the UK Government announcing plans to ban the sale...

BBC Sounds Lithium: Chile’s white gold

The Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2019 was awarded to John Goodenough, Stanley Whittingham and Akira Yoshino "for the development of lithium-ion batteries." These rechargeable batteries are in our phones, and in our laptops. And they will be the batteries powering electric vehicles which we are being urged to use in place...

Growing underground

In the heart of London there is a farm like no other. It's subterranean, sustainable and energy smart. It also has a digital twin looking out for its every need. Thirty-three metres below London’s Clapham High Street is the world’s first underground farm. It’s shaping the future of urban farming. Stacked racks of fresh...

Have a green flight!

A carbon-neutral economy in 50 years? Maybe. But what if we were to go faster? Professor Rob Miller says that it is time to completely rethink the schedule. How long will it take to make zero-carbon flight a reality? Thirty years? Longer? “Climate change means that we just don’t have that timescale,” says Professor Rob...

Professor Cebon presents to the House of Commons: The role of hydrogen in achieving net zero

On the 3rd March 2021, Professor David Cebon (University of Cambridge) presented to the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee on the role of hydrogen in achieving net zero. Professor Cebon summarised the potential, the energy efficiency and economical cost for hydrogen-use in reaching net zero target. He...

Redefining the Haber-Bosch loop

Researchers from the Catalysis and Process Integration group (Department of Chemical engineering and Biotechnology) , led by Dr Laura Torrente, have developed a new way to produce ammonia. The new system redefines the century old Haber-Bosch process within an energy landscape shifting to renewables, where ‘green ammonia’...